


Edward Orson and the Kaleidoscope Man

by Greyforrester



Series: Edward Orson Stories [1]
Category: Amalgam Comics, Ben 10 Series, Stargate Atlantis, Toaru Majutsu no Index | A Certain Magical Index
Genre: Complete, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23475061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyforrester/pseuds/Greyforrester
Summary: Edward Orson is a child hero now in his late twenties and semi-retired with his creation and FWB and Blade, Veritas Umbra. An ordinary day is interrupted when they find a giant-sized gun parked near their house. They're also harassed by several people, among which are a soldier and others with different powers.A mostly original tale that takes place in a massive crossover universe. Contains major spoilers for A Certain Magical Index.Ozwald 'The Squid' Octavious is an original character in the vein of Amalgam Comics: A combination of Dr Octopus and The Penguin
Series: Edward Orson Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688788





	Edward Orson and the Kaleidoscope Man

**Author's Note:**

> Edward Orson is owned by me as is Veritas Umbra, who is is an original blade a-la Xenoblade and X2, with aspects of Fullmetal Alchemist's Homunculi and Bayonetta's Umbra Witches.

**Chapter 1: The Soldier**

Two people, a brown-haired young man and a raven-haired and pale faced woman, were skidding to a halt on a bike. The woman, who was sitting behind the rear non-seat of the bike, dismounted and hastily took off her skirt and threw it to the man. Her body, which was on the petite side, changed. Her hips and bust expanded and she grew a few inches in height, her arms and legs were enveloped in an organic and metallic textured armour, her mouth and nose were also enveloped in the organic metal. She sprinted across the road towards a truck's shipping container that was parked across.

“Vert!” The man called, “what are you doing?”

'Vert' replied exitedly, “I can smell something coming from here, it was just a hint at first but now I can really smell it! There's something interesting in here!”

Edward stuffed the skirt hastily into the bike's basket, he then extended the kickstand and checked the road for traffic, nervously jogging across once he saw it was clear.

“Is it food? It better not.” He warned her.

“Nah, it's tangy and metal.”

Vert hopped towards the container's entrance, of which was locked.

“That lock looks tasty,” she pointed out unsubtly.

“One moment, I need to 'meditate' on this,” Edward sat down and crossed his legs, he clenched his left hand and on it's back appeared seven gems, one was blue with a red diamond in it sitting in a stylised eye, the other six were embedded in similairly-stylised tears. The red one, which was sitting directly underneath the eye, rotated clockwise with the other five tears until the green-encrusted tear sat where the red one was. A green glow enveloped him for a moment before subsiding, then he sat up.

“Do it,” he calmly commanded.

Without a moments hesitation, Vert dug her spiked maw into the lock, tearing it off. Edward opened the container, revealing something on the left that was covered in a tarp and a box right in the back. The two jumped in, the man going in first, running towards the other side of the covered object.

“I wanna take a look under this, grab your end and pull,” he ordered. The two pulled the covering off and underneath was a gigantic rifle.

“See! What's a gun that big doing in a town like here?” Vert asked rethorically, vindication clear in her tone. The man nodded in agreement, pulling a lever on the rifle while grabbing the grip with the other.

“I'd have to use my armour's larger mode to wield this effectively. Vert, could you give the magazine a tug for me,” he asked patiently.

“Sure! One sec,” Vert hopped towards him and pulled the magazine out in one try.

“Judging from the size, it looks like a Russian Titan Mecha's gun. It's too small to fit in one of Elma's skells.” He analysed. Protruding form the now freed magazine was a giant bullet. He pulled it out and looked closely at it, he continued, “teflon coating, no surprise there, caseless and self-propelled too, suprisingly 'green' of them. Wanna give this a chomp?” He suggested, handing the bullet to Vert, who took only a moment to devour the bullet. The young man held out his hand again, and Vert looked at him for a moment, before reluctantly handing the dentally-bisected ammunition back to him. He took a look at the inside, “let's see; blast cap core, magnesium powder coating,” he rubbed some of the powder that was inside on his finger and then tasted the finger, “super-thermite, copper mini-beads and, hmm, something else, an accellerant I'll bet,” he looks at the giant gun again, “and iron, for mag-coil accelleration. Safe to say anything hit by this will have a great big smoking hole in it. Vert, could you climb on top of the gun for a moment?”

“Sure!” she leapt on top of it while the man tried to push the magazine back into the gun, but the magazine wouldn't lock back into it.

“Vert, could you push against the gun, and I mean push **hard**.” After a moment of struggling, a loud CLACK rang out and the magazine was sitting comfortably. “Now we need to cover it up again, make this place look untouched.”

“What's the point?” Vert retorted, “I'm not coughing that lock back up!”

“Oh, I'll use some cross-temporal entanglement to bring the lo-”

The two were interrupted by a pair of snapping noises, between them appeared a hole in the side of the container They dove down to the floor, as more holes and snapping sounds appeared.

“They're sniping us form across the road, they're near our bike!” he whispered loudly, “Vert, climb around the opposite side, keep out of their sight. I'll distract him.” Vert jumped and grabbed the the top of the container's door opposite of the direction of gunfire and clambered over to it's outer edge. The man jumped out and showed himself to the shooter, holding his hands up. The shooter showed himself, he was musclebound, fair-haired, dressed in green camoflage and wielding a large gun. “KRISS Vector, supressed, underslung grenade launcher too, that's neat. Name's Edward, what's your's?” he rambled while slowly sidling across the road, making sure his eyes and the other guy's never broke contact. “Is that your's in there? Sorry for snooping if that's the case.” The man's eyes turned towards Vert and in an instant he swung his gun towards her. He shot off a grenade in her direction, she caught it in her mouth. After a moment of mutual and awkward indecision between the three of them, the camo-clad man swung his gun back in Edward's direction and fired off two rounds rapidly at him. Edward could only move his head slightly, the shots bouncing off the side of his skull, knocking him to the ground. Edward rolled on his back, as he looked up he was startled by Vert, with the grenade still in her mouth standing over him. Ed motioned towards the grenade and a yellow glow enveloped it, he nodded to her and she pried her teeth off of it, leaving it floating in mid-air. Ed sat up and flicked the underside of the grenade a few times before dispelling the aura. The grenade then flew up into the air before exploding harmlessly. Vert shrunk down to her more petite size, the organic metal receding into rings she wore on her wrists and ankles. Edward stood up to see that the other man had disappeared. “Did you see where he went?”

“Sorry, that grenade kinda threw me for a loop.” She lamented.

**Chapter 2: The Cold Heart**

The two returned to their home, which was only half a minute's walk from the container, a co-incidence that was not lost on Edward, but he did note that there were few places one could get away with leaving something like that. Ed and Vert struggled to fit the weather cover over his bike. “So, you think Squiddy-boy got that big ol' pea-shooter brought over here?” Vert inquired.

“If Oswald won't keep the Illuminati at a tentacle's distance, then he'll surely settle for an arm's instead. That soldier, the gun, all his doing, I'm sure of it.” Edward reasoned. “About a week ago, I had a guy investigate some North Koreans being sold as slaves for a logging operation, he says he had help from a guy fitting the description of that asshat who shot at us. Said asshat actually helped those slaves get asylum in America, so we thought he was a good guy, I guess he's a moderate grey at best.”

“How's your head feeling?” Vert asked, casually.

Edward replied, unconcerned; “Oh, it's fine, a localised 'rewind' of the cells fixed the crack in no time.” Ed and Vert entered their house. “I'm back, I tried to get what everyone ordered,” he announced.

“That does smell like my pepper and mushroom pie,” an old man sitting in the lounge room commented.

“Here you are, Dad.” Edward handed the paper bagged pastry to him, “They didn't have any plain meat pies left, mother, so I got you a meat and pea pie,” He lamented, lightly.

Later, he and Vert were in Edward's room, Edward motioned towards the door and it seemingly closed itself. The tears on Ed's left hand reappeared and started shifting again, this time, the light blue one moved to underneath the eye. Edward crossed his legs and and began meditating.

“Keep an eye on me, I'm going to search for that guy's mental signal. If he's near, I'll find him, If he's **too** near, you get him before he gets us, 'k?” Edward charged her.

“Gotcha,” she replied, “I don't see why you can't just get into his mind.”

As Edward tried to concentrate, he was distracted by a nearby dog's yapping.

“Boy, that dog's really mad at something, I wonder what.” Vert muttered absentmindedly.

“Probably a lizard ran by it's feet, it seems scared anyway.” Edward observed, breaking off his meditation. “Dammit, I can't find him, I don't like entering the minds of others but I'd have made an exception for him. But he's gone, or dead.”

“Could-a had me sniff him out, y'know” Vert pointed out.

“Yeah, a bit risky though, I'm sure he'd have been as dangerous as prey as he was as a predator.”

“Yeah, but you're tough.”

“Not me I'm worried about, you're tough too, but not bulletproof. You're not human but you're built like one.”

“I know for a fact that you're... built, like one.” Vert suggested flirtily, pulling the window's blinds shut.

“Yeah, for all the weird changes myself and others have done to me, I'm glad I can still pass for human. Veritas, could you open the blinds, I can't see a thing in here.” Ed sounded grateful but distracted. Veritas' clothing disappeared as she wrapped her arms around Edward. She pushed him onto the bed's pillow lying on top of him briefly before flipping the two of them over. Ed, lying on top of her, finally got her message. Ed began to kiss her face but she pulled her head away.

“Jeez, no, I just want you to vanish your clothes and jackhammer me.” she demanded, frankly.

Ed acquiesced, his clothes dissolving as well at his will. He reached down to guide himself into her, sliding gently into her wet opening. She placed a hand on his rear cheek, squeezing as she felt him enter. True to her demand, he quickly sped up his thrusts. He wrapped his arms above her shoulders. She moved her other hand to grip his'. As he ploughed her he buried his face into the pillow to stifle his ecstatic moans. She would stroke his ass and back, occasionally swatting his cheek softly. After an eternity, and yet at the same time too quickly, they finished. Edward shifted himself downward to lay his head on her breasts, as he did he pulled the sheets over them. Despite it being an afternoon in the middle of summer, the two felt chilly. Edward looked up to Vert's face, as she panted he could see condensation on her breath.

Edward slipped out of bed, as his bare flesh was being enveloped by a grey and white bodysuit. He opened the blinds again, only to see his window covered in fog. He marched out of the room, checking on his parents, his mother was asleep on a chair in the lounge, in the spare bedroom, his father was also asleep, lying on a seat in front of his computer. Edward lifted him off the seat and onto the nearby bed. He looked to Vert, who was approaching him.

“Someone's out there turning this house into a frigid coffin,” he ascertained, sounding troubled. The two tried to budge the house's back doors but to no avail. Ed tried the front door, which opened, but only with much force from him. To the right outside was the undercover barbecue area, standing in it was a girl, with hair almost white and in a long braid, her clothing was a light blue, casual but with a regal, flowing look to it. Vert transformed, gaining almost three feet in height and becoming muscle bound, her sidetails extended down to cover her nipples and loins, the organic metal covered her arms, legs and shoulders.

“Alight!” Edward proclaimed, he floated a foot off the ground, covered in a sphere of blinding light. When the sphere disappeared, he was covered in a humanoid, but also insectoid armour. He reached out to grab the mysterious girl with his right hand, only for her to grab its wrist. Immediately his arm began to freeze.

“Let it go!” he demanded, only for her to snap his hand off with a flick of her wrist. He staggered back, leaving a clear line of sight for Vert. The white-haired woman retreated, going through a wide gap between the house and the fence. Vert charged to catch her following her down the gap. Swoosh she disappeared in a blur. “No! Vert, the ground is too icy. You'll have no control!.” Ed shouted urgently, placing his right hand back on his stump, a green glow enveloped it and it became attached again. He rounded the corner after them, following them to the backyard. Vert was bent over the compost container in the corner of the back yard while the other woman was looking on her, smugly. Vert climbed off back onto her feet and shot a glare at the icy queen. Vert threw her left fist at her face, she dodged it and grabbed the arm with both her hand. The arm quickly began to freeze like Edward's did. The two woman looked her arm as frost enveloped it, Vert was afraid, while the other woman's betrayed her pure confidence. “Dammit, just hit her!” he ordered. The other woman glanced at Ed briefly before a fist collided with her jaw, sending her careening into a fence. As she braced herself against it, Vert staggered back clutching her iced arm. A dog's bark could be heard briefly before it started to whimper. Edward saw that it had attempted to lick the fence, only to catch its tongue on the frost. The mysterious woman and Edward were in a stand-off, broken when Vert attempted to charge her again, slipping on the icy ground. This distracted Ed briefly, but long enough for her to charge at him, she grabbed his face. He kicked her off him. She ran behind a small building that was at the other side of the back yard while Ed was defrosting his head. She produced a gun, the exact one the blonde soldier had. She opened fire, penetrating Ed's stomach. Edward doubled over, clutching the wound. The woman disappeared.

Edward enveloped Veritas, the fence and dog in a green glow, resulting in the frost on all three vanishing. Edward closed his left hand and then extended his index and pinky a flash of a blue and yellow magnet appeared diffusing into a glow around the hand, a yellow stream of light entered the wound, forcing a chunk of metal out when it exited, it reentered and extracted another. A green glow shrouded the wound and it vanished. He laid on his back, panting. He picked up one of the chunks and examined it closely, then he glanced at his partner,“Hey, Vert, you good?”

“I'm alright,” she replied, distressed and fatigued.

“Sloth mode... it's not very precise. I... implore you, don't use it in cramped quarters, unless you wanna trash the place... that is.” Edward advised, panting. “I thought it was Depleted Uranium she hit me with, nope, turns out it's Naquadah.”

Veritas shrunk down to her petite mode again, her somewhat immodest outfit enveloping her body once more. “What's Naquadah?” she inquired.

“Incredibly rare metal, like Uranium but much harder. Gives off more energy too. Good for starship hulls and their reactors.”

**Chapter 3: The Amazoness**

Edward and Veritas were sitting undercover at a nearby park. The two were examining a green line on a holographic map of the town.

“Looks like that gun stopped off, breifly, at a nearby self-storage shed. It's a stretch but they could've moved it and those crates into the shed in those few minutes. Probably no point in tracking that container any more.” Edward determined.

“So, do we raid it?” Veritas asked, hopefully.

“Hmm, no, I think we should store a device that records all the noise in the vicinity. Teach it where the lockers in question are in relation to it and focus there. Might lead us to Octavius.” Edward schemed, adding, “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Vert didn't respond, instead she was looking at the bridge nearby, Edward looked as well and saw a boy, not yet a teenager, he had dark curly hair and wore a pink shirt, he looked somewhat emaciated. Neither could see any adult near him.

Edward turned to Vert. “Well, kids don't like me and I don't like kids, so... if you're gonna help that kid, you're on your own.” Vert turned to Ed with an unapproving look on her face.

“Oh well, you can sit there while he and I have some fun.” She ran off. Edward rolled his eyes and lay down on the seat, spreading himself all across it. He glanced back at the bridge, noticing that both had gone.

Edward muttered to himself, “Don't blame me when some mother chews your head off for messing with her kid. She doesn't even have a watch so we can't organise a meeting point, crud.” After an indeterminable amount of time that Ed discovered was only 15 minutes. Edward got up on both his feet and strolled off where he last saw Vert and the boy. The park was quiet and almost uninhabited, not helping was the plague of lily pads covering much of the park's waters. Even the tweets of birds were rare among the sounds of the trees swaying in the breeze. One could hear the sounds of industry surrounding the park. While the ponds weren't clear, the grass was often well-mowed, enough for one to easily wander from one end to the other. Edward leaned on the side of bridge, taking his sweet time in pursuing the two. As the two had travelled to the park by a portal he made, he was sure that no-one had followed them from their house. Ten more minutes had passed by since he began searching for Vert. He became more concerned. The quiet, once relaxing, turned eerie.

Edward assumed a meditating pose, the tears on his left hand, shifting so the light blue one locked in underneath the eye. He quickly determined Veritas' location and, after shifting the dark blue tear under the eye, he generated a portal to her location. As he stepped through, Veritas was once again tall and musclebound, but her company wasn't the child. She was currently in a standoff with a woman of equal size to her, deep olive skin, dark brown hair and only slightly more covered up than Veritas was at that moment. Veritas accelerated towards her, she countered simply by allowing Vert to charge into her open arms. The impact forced the other woman's arms closed, she then fell backwards, sending Veritas tumbling ass-over-head. The other giant noticed him, so Edward wasted no time in shouting “Alight!” and summoning his armour. The tears on his left hand shifted again so that the purple one slid under the eye. A purple aura enveloped Edward, along with purple twisting and winding streaks. Edward jumped at her, thrusting his left foot into her face. She dodged it, positioning herself behind him, lifting and embracing him in a bear hug. He kicked both of her shins and threw his head back, colliding with her nose. She let him go, staggering back and falling onto her knees. He gently placed his right hand on her shoulder and spat a question at her.

“Who the fuck are you?” Edward clenched his other hand. “I swear, If you stay quiet I'll get my answers a less pleasant way. He locked the light blue tear under the eye. “See this, I can control the fundamental forces of the universe; power, soul, space, time, reality.... and right now? Mind! Ideally, I'd use this power once and assholes get the message, I instead elect to use it sparingly.”

“F-fine! Aleister Crowley sent me. You marched right up to him, deep within a building that technically doesn't exist and flexed your muscle at him. You're a fool to expect no backlash!” She lectured.

“Crowley's running a sick experiment on the world. If he decided to cancel it, there'll be chaos, as it stands it's fracturing society, Academy City is a fraudulent utopia. Also, need I bring up the impending war between the City and certain church mage factions?” Edward fired back.

“He is not to blame for the enemies he makes. He loves science, he loves empowering others. He told me to tell you that he's a better Prometheus than you'll ever be!”

His breathing hastened, his raised fist was shaking, itching to smash the face of the foul woman who affronted him. Part of him was fighting to spare her. But before he could act, she dealt a sudden and brutal blow to his armoured head, he could hear his head shatter and feel his helmet deform. By the time his head reformed, she had vanished. Veritas shrunk back down yet again and approached him, apologising, “Sorry, she judo-ed me into something of a suplex, I didn't see it coming.” Edward didn't respond, instead, he just sat on the ground, hunched over. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Yeah, I do actually,” he responded to her surprise, “did you hear what she said?”

“Yeah, some growly guy sent her.”

“Aleister Crowley, he's a magician with his claws dug deep into a city in the middle of Japan, also he's got more claws in the fabric of reality and he's portioned it out to just under a million random people around the world, giving them superpowers. It sounds good on the surface but I don't trust him one bit. One bad day, one petulant impulse and he could wreak havoc.”

“Jeez, that does sound pretty bad, or suspicious anyway. Especially the whole thing of him hiding from the world.”

“Oh? You know that I'm hiding too, right?” Edward pointed out, climbing to his feet. His armour dematerialised.  
Chapter 4: The Gladiator

Ed and Veritas organised a face-to-face meeting with the owner of the storage sheds. Ed had already wired him a few month's worth of rent from a proxy bank account, all they needed to do was collect the key from him. The two were loitering at the entrance when Vert pointed out something she felt seemed obvious, “shouldn't we actually have something to put in there, just for appearance's sake?”

He pondered her question, off his guard. “I guess we could say we're making sure it's clean first.”

“So you're going to insult him? Nice.” Vert responded sardonically.

“I- uh, don't give me that! I just want to get this done. He's a big boy. I hope” Ed rambled.

“You calling him fat?” Vert asked facetiously.

“Oh, cut it out, will you?”

Indeed the conversation ceased for a few uncomfortable minutes until an old car rolled up. Out of it stepped a slightly overweight man with thick stubble on his chins.

“G'day, here for the keys to four-one-one?”

“Yup,” Edward nodded, extending a hand. He shook it and shook Vert's hand when she extended it, leering at her revealing outfit before looking off. He stuck his other hand into his pocket and produced a pair of keys, both had the number '411' on an attached tag.

“Wunza spare, but don't lose either of them, ok?” He took them to their lot, opening the lock and raising the roller door. In one corner was what looked like a moisture absorber, but other than dust, it was acceptably empty. Edward shook his hand again, he gave Edward his keys and he walked off, but not before glancing back at Vert one more time. Once he was gone, Edward extended his left arm and a cloud bustling with electricity appeared and filled the lot. The cloud dispersed and in it's place was a large console.

“That should do the trick, it's set to record ground sound and ambient noise.” Edward remarked, shutting the roller door and snapping the lock.

...

Days later, the two were combing through the audio. They had picked up they were sure were associates of Oswald 'The Squid'.

“'Dis a bit different form umbrellas that shoot stuff. I hear the guy's got a mech in every port on the eastern side, from here to the border.” One voice mumbled.

“Keep yer voice down if you're gonna talk shop!” A second voice scolded.

“They don't quite sound like locals, do they?” Edward asked, facetiously.

Vert remained quiet, listening intently to the recording.

“Whatcha think he's going to shoot it at?”

“Shaddup, someone's coming.”

“Hello there, gentlemen.” said a rich, deep voice. Edward and Veritas glanced at each other, nervously. The new voice continued, “would I be correct in the presumption that you two are associates of a man by the name of Oswald Octavius, or would you just refer to him as 'the Squid'? a cute moniker, by the way.”

“How about you piss off, negro!” one of the so-called gentlemen suggested.

“I'd rather invoke the 'Enemy Mine' principal. We are both keenly aware of an obstacle, called himself quite a few names, John Titor, Chen Zhen, Prometheus, the 'Number four”, Edward Orson; do any of those names elicit, shall we say, 'distain'?”

“Speak english, boy,” the other minion demanded.

The deep voice sighed tensely for a moment before continuing, “Perhaps it's all just misfortune for you and your organisation or it could be a brilliant opening play. In the case of the latter your boss has certainly succeeded because when you left your, ahem, shipment in that box on wheels. It happened to be within a literal, albeit olympic, stone's throw of the residence of Mister Orson. In his curiousity, he broke in and in doing so has become wise to Oswald's operation.”

“Hey, it wasn't my idea.” Edward muttered, elbowing Veritas.

“So, we moved it now.” One of the minions proclaimed, smugly.

“Yes, it's here and all relevant parties know it. Edward stored a device to record all traffic and conversation within the vicinity. Just open lot number four-one-one.”

Edward was silent for a moment before wispering rasply, “Son-of-a-SHIT! When was this?” Edward checked the time stamp, “dammit, two hours ago! Who the hell was that guy?”

Ed opened a portal, jumping through it and landing right in front of his storage lot. Vert followed through right before the portal shut. He hastily opened the lock and threw the door open again. Sitting on the console was an Asian man holding a broadsword with both of his hands. He stood up and pointed the blade at Edward. The two adjacent lots opened up, and out came several men all of them with white, plastic tentacles protruding from their backs. Edward eyes were fixed on the sword, he noticed that while it was metal, not unusual for swords, it also had a strange crystalline texture.

“Whoever sent you, betting it's Crowley by the way, genuinely spared no expense!” Edward remarked, impressed, “that metal, it's adamantite I'll bet, impossible to break or even deform, any edge it has will keep indefinently.”

“You have a keen eye. However your blood, it will spill and in one swipe, the blade will be as clean as new.” The stranger warned.

“Crowley's muscle or not, I want to parlay. You and Aleister do not want to get into bed with the Squid, I mean, that kinda speaks for itself doesn't it?” Edward cautioned back.

The swordsman swiped at Edward but missed when he skipped backwards. An electric cloud appeared in front of Edward, it was straight and narrow, it disappeared, dropping a white, blue and golden blade, equal in size to the adamantite one. Edward grabbed it with his left hand and wielded it underhandedly.

“Before we start, y'know, for real; lemmie tell you a little about my little knife here. I call it the A-I blade, it's smart but that's not why it got that name, it's a combination of Aurum and Isu technology. One neat trick it can do is find out where other signs of life are.”

The swordsman interrupted, his voice raised; “I know not and care not what either of those are, quit your chattering and fight me!”

He took another swipe at Edward, who caught the blade with his, locking it in the guard. He used the momentum of the blow, swinging his blade to his side, causing the other man to stumble forward. A cone of light shone from the blade, as it touched everyone around Ed, a silhouette made of light appeared where they were.

Veritas changed form. Growing in height by a few inches along with her body figure becoming more hourglass. Her outfit transformed into an ankle-length dress, but there was an opening that showed her left-hand leg, a belt formed around her waist, preventing the dress from revealing her bare lap. Both of her arms and legs were enveloped in metal gauntlets and boots respectively. From her wrists and over the back of each of her hands a blade extended.

“Looks like my companion has had it with you people, bull's horns, etcetera. By the way, if you pay close attention to my sword, you'll see that it's repairing itself in real time.” Ed chided him.

“Foolish is the man who relies on technology, it cannot make up for skill.”

“Well your sword didn't come out of the earth that way, I guarantee it. Even if it did, you'd have a hell of a time pulling it out, just like how you're struggling now. My blade? It's light.” Edward demonstrated, chucking his sword in the air and catching it with the other. He could see a bead of sweat dangling from the man's eyebrow. Ed took a swipe at the broadsword, but he was able to manoeuvre it back in front of himself. “Vert!” he called, catching her eye. He nodded, spun around and charged at the tentacled toadies that had boxed the two of them in. He slashed the chest of one, sending him to the ground whimpering. Another tried to swipe him with the prehensile plastic but Edward jumped, disappearing into another cloud that spontaneously appeared above him. Veritas like wise charged, cutting two of the goons down as she passed between them. Edward dropped out of the sky onto the shoulders of another minion, thumping the top of his head and sending him to the ground. The handle of his blade rotated so that he was holding it like a gun, he disappeared into a portal that materialised on the ground, avoiding another tendril swipe. Vert was fighting and winning against a lone mook, having sliced off all of his tentacles. Vert charged at him, penetrating him between ribs and driving him against a wall. Edward reappeared and pointed his gun/sword at the last tentacled adversary, a ball of white energy flew out, hitting him before he could react. The Asian swordsman ran at Veritas while she was pulling her blades out. She spotted his approach and crossed her blades in front of her defensively. He swiped down, slicing off the blades. Having cut down her defence, he plunged his blade into her belly, she doubled down in pain. Edward appeared behind the swordsman and placed him in a headlock, as Ed pulled him back he swatted the hands holding the sword. The stranger let go and Edward threw him in lot four-one-one. He pulled the door shut and swiftly and enveloped it in a yellow glow. He clenched his fist and the tears rotated so that the green-encrusted was underneath, then he cast a same glow on Veritas, and her motions reversed through time. She 'stood' back on her feet, the blade floated back out of her, and her own blades flew back in one piece, at which point he stopped.

“You're ok, Vert, I rewound you” he reassured her.

“Uh, thanks, I think?” she replied uncertainly.

Edward turned his attention to the man who's chest he slashed.

“Tell me what you know.” He requested.

“I know this hurts like hell!” The wounded man man moaned.

“About Oswald!” Edward shouted.

“Uh, Ed, we got company,” Veritas advised. Edward turned to see a pair of police officers aiming their handguns at them.

“Don't do anything hasty,” Ed requested of Vert.

“Drop your weapon!” one of the officers ordered. Edward complied, dropping his sword. “Hands up!” was the law enforcer's next command. Both Vert and Ed held their hands above their heads. Edward clenched his left hand again, slowly, exchanging the green tear for the dark blue one. He concentrated on his sword, enveloping it in cloud and causing it to vanish. “Hey, what was that? What happened to the sword?” the officer asked in bewilderment.

“What sword? Did you see a sword?” Ed asked glibly.

“Yeah, I saw it too, it vanished!” the other officer remarked.

“Oh, you mean like this?” Edward quipped, a cloudy portal appeared below Veritas and Edward, swallowing them both.

Edward landed on his bed. He could see that Vert was already lying on it on her back, having not changed back, her legs were apart and her cheeks were red. She sat up and embraced Edward, pulling him back down with her. He was confused until he could feel a discomfort in his loins. He pinned her arms to the ends of her bed and pushed himself up off her. A cloud enveloped his clothes, vanishing them and sending them to the corner of the room.

“Lemmie guess, you want it fast and furious again?” He asked. Instead of answering, she embraced his lower half with her legs, somehow managing to force him into her at the same time. This unexpected penetration caused his arms to give way, she grabbed his ass with her gauntlet-covered hand causing him to flinch. She held his head with her other hand. He began pounding her as hard as the last time. During his thrusts he turned to the bedroom door and gestured at it, leading it to shut itself. He buried his head again in the pillow and let out moans of pleasure.

Later, the two were spooning. Veritas turned to Edward, who was behind her and revealed, “I do remember that sword going into me and then my head feeling scrambled, next thing I knew I was waiting for him to attack me again, like Deja Vu. Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Edward mumbled.

**Chapter 5: The Indestructible**

Edward emerged from his room to see his father listening to the radio, a worried look on his wrinkled face.

“Something the matter?” Ed asked. His father put a finger up to his own mouth and Ed nodded, sitting himself down and concentrating on the radio himself. After a few minutes, a news broadcast started.

“Seven men were found at a storage rental facility earlier today. Five were already dead when officers arrived, a sixth one was taken in an ambulance. A seventh man was found locked in one of the lots, he was arrested when he assaulted the officers. Police are searching for a man and a woman who were also at the scene.”

Edward's expression was unchanged but he breathed a quiet sigh of relief that the announcement gave no description. He walked back to his room, noticing that Veritas had gone, instead a young man with blue hair and a white flowing robe was sitting on his bed.

“Veritas Lumen, it's been a while.” He greeted the other man. The tears on Edward's left hand shifted around, the crimson one assuming the active, under-eye, position. A red glow enveloped the room, changing it from a small, furnished dwelling to a vast white and featureless expanse. “We won't be disturbed now,” Edward assured him.

“I'm unamused at how much time my umbra sister has managed to have since she acquired that 'ViceGrip' artefact you cobbled together.” Lumen kvetched.

Edward took exception to this, “I'll have you know I had phenomenal power and thanks the the Mind GemStone, an elaborate blueprint to contain those ex-homunculi's power. Well, except for the homunculi, who we both can agree were kind of a plague.”

“Whatever, letting that man get taken in by the police might've been the most sensible thing you've done in a while, but it's still fairly foolish. His associates working for Crowley will surely seek to free him, spilling countless innocents' blood in doing so.”

“Well, if you want I can teleport you to the station and you can tell me if shit ever goes down.” Edward suggested, moodily.

“So be it,” Lumen replied. Another red glow enveloped the environment, sending the two back to his bedroom. Edward shifted the dark blue tear back into active position and opened a portal for Lumen, who promptly walked through it.

Later, Edward was trying to go to sleep for the night but hadn't drifted off in half an hour. Instead he decided to sit on the floor and meditate. On his right hand was a different device, an Omnitrix prototype he had on a dubious long term loan from Azmuth that Ed had modified. Instead of a unilateral genetic change, it modified the nanomachines that flowed throughout his bio-armour. He had materialised its enhanced optic sensors and had established a connection between his Omnitrix and the eyes.

“Edward, I'm hearing gunfire in the police station!” Lumen urgently informed him. Edward envolped himself in a cloud, shifting him form his room to the front of the police building.

“I guess they got by you.” Edward commented neutrally. “Alight!” he announced, the bio-armour enveloping him.

“Save your smugness for later.” Edward was taken aback briefly but shifted his focus to the situation that had developed, he engaged his active camouflage, becoming completely invisible and charged into the station, . Lumen ran around the perimeter of the building, looking out for more interlopers, materialising his own equipment; a large shield and a spear with prongs on each end of a 3/4ths circle head. Inside the station, Edward was dodging dozens of evacuees as he headed towards the sounds of gunfire. His armour's onboard computer triangulated the position of the shots and he made himself intangible, shifting himself hyperspacially to the fighting. There he saw a woman with a shotgun pointing it at the back of the head of a middle-aged, greasy-haired white man covered in a trenchcoat. She fired, causing his head to snap forward, the woman fell on the floor with a bloody hole in the middle of her forehead. The man raised his head again, and started to walk slowly towards Edward, who had made himself visible again.

“You're with Crowley, aren't ya?” Edward asked, semi-facetiously. The man did not respond, except for locking eyes with Ed and lumbering towards him. The man reached for Ed but he swatted both his arms away with one action and with another he punched him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards and into a wall. He fell to the floor and, without skipping a beat, he climbed back onto his feet and began to sprint toward Ed. “Shit, an actual tough guy!” Ed muttered. When the man was within reach, Ed grabbed his throat but did not squeeze it. The aged man in turn grabbed him by the waist, lifted him, then rotated him and threw him down to the floor, sending him crashing through it. He jumped down but Ed rolled out of his way, allowing Ed the advantage of being behind him. He placed him in a headlock with one arm and began to pound on the top of his skull. In the struggle, the two broke several walls before Ed let go. “Well, I could either go for the groin, or I can do this.” He faux-bargained, opening a portal under the old man and followed him as he fell through.

After a fall of a dozen meters, the unbreakable man fell with a thud but once again picked himself back up without skipping a beat. Edward landed on top of him, feet on his head and sent him crashing back down again. The two were standing in a small stadium. For a third time he picked himself back up but before he could stand tall again, Edward grabbed him by the back, the top of his coat and by the belt-line of his pants. He lifted him high before kneeling and sending him onto his knee. This ended up having the inverse of the intended effect, breaking Edward's extended leg and leaving his opponent unaffected. The man turned to face him, however, before he could do anything else, a pair of beams, a mixture of red and green in colour, shot out of his eyes. The impact sent the man flying backwards into the stands, collapsing them.

“Lumen, you read me?” Ed called.

“Sure, what's the situation?” Lumen replied.

“I found who they were shooting at, this guy's the toughest mother yet. I fought him in the station, dropped him in at a nearby stadium and I couldn't hurt him at all. I bet he ate every shot they fired at him.”

“I see, I've not engaged anyone on my end so I'm backing off, no sign of the Korean with the sword.”

“He was Korean? Yeah, I guess he was.” Edward reflected. “Well, lets meet back up at the front of the station, I'll portal you out.”

**Chapter 6: The Feather**

Two days had passed. Edward and Veritas were sitting on a table in front of a pastry shop in a mall.

“I gotta say, it's good to have you back Umbra,” Edward remarked to the dark-haired young woman who was his usual companion.

“Thank you, I just needed a little time. I've been in many a close shave but that sword just tore through me. I think I freaked out a little.” Vert elaborated. Edward nodded, adding.

“You don't need to justify yourself to me, penetration can be... uh, unpleasant.” He reassured her.

“Another thing; are we 'kill-on-sight' with Crowley's guys now?” She asked frankly.

“Yeah, that rampage in the police station killed and wounded dozens. Safe to say this is beyond simply personal.” Edward stated certainly.

Silence fell between them. As Edward was idly glancing at his surrounds, he spotted a familiar looking pink shirt. He made eye contact with Vert and motioned with his eyes for her to look where he was looking. She did, recognising the curly haired boy from the park. The two looked back at each other.

“Unattended minor, again,” Edward remarked.

“What should we do?” Vert asked.

“Well, don't go running off again.” He replied, severely, before his focus drifted off. The young man in the pink shirt wandered off.

“Uh Ed, we're losing him!”

“What? Oh, don't go after him, or maybe do,” Edward sounded hesitant. “Wait, I got a plan,” his confidence restored, “We're going clothes shopping!'.

A baffled “Huh?” was Vert's only reaction.

The two marched into a large clothing outlet. Vert followed Edward as he made way to the children's section. “Pick something,” he nudged adding, “just don't take too long.”

“I won't fit in any of these unless I'm in... oooh!” She realised. She scanned a few racks and selected a mini-blouse with a skirt that was about a yard long. The two hurried to the counter and paid for the outfit, moving to the changing rooms before the cashier could hand them their receipt. Edward gave Vert ducked into the change rooms and minute later and a girl looking like her walked out However, while she still had black hair, now she had pigtails extending down to elbow length, her face was rounder in contrast to her body frame, which was unmistakably very skinny and much smaller than she usually was. Vert was wearing the dress that she had picked out and now she was she was looking around for Ed, who was nowhere to be found. She left the store and wandered around the shopping centre, hoping to find him again. She exited the building, finding herself in one of the parking lots, just then a taxi drove past her. In it was Edward, seemingly not noticing her or not caring she was there. In pursuit of the vehicle was the same boy, he was sprinting furiously trying to keep up with the vehicle, it turned a corner and the boy, much to Vert surprise, leapt all the way up to the sunshade and continued his pursuit. Vert could see the boy jump back down, landing on his two feet. He continued chasing the vehicle until it turned out of the lot and sped off.

Veritas ran up to the child, who was squatting and slumping down in defeat.

“Uh, hey there,” she greeted him, uncertainly.

“Oh, uh hello there, miss,” he replied, friendly but distracted.

“I saw your jump, that was amazing!” her praise surprised the kid.

“Look, I need to be somewhere.” he snubbed her, running off again. Veritas ran ahead of him and blocked his path.

“You sure can jump but you're a bit of a slowpoke,” she teased him. He jumped onto another shade-cloth and rushed off. Vert noticed him jump to the roof of the shopping centre and jumped up to it herself, noticing he was running in the direction of the bus stop. She ran towards the section of the roof he jumped off and then shifted to crawling, peering over to notice he had taken a seat. She doubled back and snuck around the building, finding him still on the seat. She jumped onto the seat from the back and surprised him.

“Heya there, gonna pay for my ticket too?” she asked, cheekily.

“What the-? No!, I'm gonna jump on it from the back. I'm not even gonna get a ticket for me, got no money anyway.” he informed her.

“Ooh, I got money! Wanna try the seats instead of the roof?” Vert suggested.

“I guess, I hate having to hold on tight,” he remarked, causing Vert to stifle a giggle.

“Where're you going?” Vert enquired.

“Eastside, the suburbs on the edge there. What about you?”

“Same direction, just a bit further. So, tell me about your superpowers!”

“Well, I can jump, pretty high. That's it,” the boy said, tersely.

“I got powers too, I'm fast, I can eat things that aren't really meant to be eaten, and other stuff,”

“You sound like a baby,” he said in a mean tone.

“Did you get bitten by a jumping spider?” Veritas continued her curious probing.

“What? No, I'd rather not go into that,” the boy sounded increasingly wound up.

“Ok, now I know something's not right, first you chasing cars, now you're trying to jump onto a bus, what's wrong?” Vert asked, clearly concerned. A bus turned up, and the boy ran inside it as it opened it's doors, not caring to wait for anyone to leave first, although no-one was. Vert ran in and gave the driver enough money for two tickets. She noticed that the driver looked familiar but her focus shifted back to the boy, who had taken a seat at the rear of the vehicle. She sat herself directly beside him, to his chagrin.

“Would you leave me alone, please?” he pleaded.

“But you're always alone, aren't you?” she retorted rhetorically.

“What, no? I mean I wish but-” he abruptly turned silent.

“But you've got nobody, you're like a homeless kid, you don't even have money.”

“I have money, I'm just not allowed to spend it.”

“Well, that sucks. I mean what's the point?” Vert returned.

“It's for the others to spend.” he responded vaguely.

“Who?”

“They- they're, just shut up already!” was the boy's outburst.

“I'm sorry,”

“Not you,” he said, then he slapped his hand over his mouth, perplexing Vert.

“I don't suppose you've noticed this bus is empty, have you?” a mysterious voice pointed out.

“Yeah, so what the hell's the kid talking about,” Veritas asked, “Wait, Edward? Is that you?”

“Welp, the dam's sprung a leak and the cracks are spreading, so will you start being honest with us, kiddo?”

“Wait, where are you?,” said boy asked, in bewilderment. Edward appeared on a seat in front of them, manifesting from a red distortion.

“That's the last answer you get without giving us some yourself” Edward stated frankly, “You're working for Aleister Crowley, right?” he asked, only to be met with silence. The bus pulled up, Veritas transformed back into her usual self, her childish clothing vanished. “Take her hand,” Ed requested of him. The three left, the boy having left begrudingly and started walking down to Ed and Vert's house. “My parents won't be home for a few hours and even if the do come home, we can portal little mister beanpole out in a jiffy.”

Edward sat the boy down on the seat, making him a promise; “See these,” he showed him the two devices on the back of his hands, “the one to your left is a prototype Omnitrix; the DNA of millions of aliens are at my fingertips, or near enough, and they alone can give my armour a near-eternity of upgrades. The one on your right is the Imperium Module, in it is the Truth GemStone; I drained energy from 6 stones, in each was the power to control a piece of the makeup of the universe, into it. With these two I guarantee you that the others won't harm you.”

“I know about your mod-thing already, and you can't protect me from them, because they're always with me.” The boy revealed. The air around him started to distort, his proportions extended and his skin darkened. His hair disappeared and in his place sat a black man with prominent cheekbones in a formal suit.

  
**Chapter 7: The Mentalist**

“Alight!” Edward deployed his armour and stood back from the man who had just appeared on his couch.

“Startled you, did I?” he asked, smiling and self-satisfied. “Edward Orson, the fourth most highly regarded expert on extraterrestrials according to UNIT, thorn in the modern Illuminati's side, both saviour and bringer of damnation to Earth on multiple occasions. Tell me, how is the Omega Shield organis ation doing nowadays?”

“It's legacy stands tall, that's all that matters.” Ed shot back. “Am I supposed to be impressed that you've done some homework, the only difficult part is actually getting here.” He then when on the offensive, “So, a bit crowded in there are y'all? I guess it saves space and money on apartment rental.”

“It has advantages and its downsides.” He calmly replied.

“So, how many are in there?” Vert chimed in. Eliciting no response from him.

“Keep your eyes on what's going on outside, Vert,” Edward asked, “I'll keep an eye on this...” he looks at the other man, “situation.”

“You used to be a team player, I'm told.” He asked, provokingly.

“It's easy to work together defending the universe or just your floating rock in the middle of it. It's a lot harder to stay unified, almost impossible, even, when you become aware of the rot just under the surface of said floating rock. Crowley's one of those pieces of rot.” Edward ranted.

“He founded the most technologically advanced cities on the face of the planet, Rapture doesn't count being underwater, Wakataris doesn't count being below ground, and Vivacia, try as it might, is much too pussy-footed to lead the world in science.” He responded, matter-of-factly.

“So, letting you out of his test tube to go after me was purely a professional act was it?” Ed asked facetiously, “Honestly, what do you owe him?”

The man's amused expression faded and his brow furrowed.

“I owe him everything and nothing, but I'm a generous person. Is the armour really necessary? I mean, we're just talking.”

Edward sat on the ground and leaned against a wall. His helmet dissolved, exposing his face.

“I trust you won't attack me, so you get this. The kid's also alright but I don't know how many of you are in there. How many are in there? Must've been hard for your boss to incentivise or otherwise leverage all of you into doing his dirty work, dirty like cleaning motor oil.”

“Well, you said it, motor oil stain. No, I apologise, I shouldn't be so petty as to call someone rot or motor oil.” The man said, cuttingly.

“I speak for myself, and so I speak freely. You're speaking for a party, you have to be mindful of the concerns of at least several people.” The other man looked away. Edward walked up to him, crossing into his line of sight and sat on the couch next to him. “Look, I shared my mental living quarters with a few people, myself. Defining 'myself' is hard enough for anyone alone with their thoughts, I can only imagine the trouble that so many, what's the term? 'Alters'?, would cause.”

“They're not alters, I'm not sick. My mind isn't a glass that's been split, WE are more like colours that didn't mix.” He explained.

“Like a glass painting?” Edward interrupted.

“More like,” He paused to think, “a kaleidoscope.”

“That should be your superhero name, if you don't have one already.”

“Kaleidoscope doesn't sound very threatening or mysterious, doesn't inspire much hope either.”

“Just chuck a 'Man' on the end. That should work alright.” Edward sincerely suggested. The other man got up out of his seat like a shot and turned to face Edward.

“I am no superhero, I have no interest in fighting crime or crusading for justice.” He turned away from Ed, “no, you need not emerge, we have everything we need to kill him. We just need to USE it.”

“Hey, if someone else wants to speak to me, they should face me.” Ed declared, earnestly.

“No, you don't want to see him. He's not much for talk as, well, he's most unfriendly.” The man sounded nervous.

“It takes a lot to make me nervous. Now, you took me off guard, tip of the hat for that. Now I know you too much to imagine you'd catch me like that again.”

The Kaleidoscope Man bolted for the front entrance. Charging at it with his shoulder and knocking it open. He then continued to the front gate, he looked all over for the latches but couldn't find any. He looked at the street outside to find a white void consuming everything in sight. The walls and gate turned red, the redness consumed his vision and then faded away. He found himself in a small bare room with Edward.“You've been bamboozled, Eisenheimed, and for the second time today!” Edward beamed, cockily.

The man gasped, distressed as he knelt down. “He's furious now!” he sounded scared. He began to shake and convulse, then he vanished from Edward's vision. Ed was then forced up against the wall, then suddenly, the ceiling, his left hand began to freeze over. Then he found himself flying out of the window, smashing it to pieces, and found himself tumbling onto his back lawn. Veritas rushed into the scene, she was covered shoulders to toe in what looked like a military uniform with armoured arms and legs, covering her left-hand eye was an eye-patch made of organic metal.

“What the hell is going on?” She demanded.

“He had a fit then vanished, I don't know if it's telekinesis or he-” Edward was interrupted, finding himself thrown across the yard, as he flew his helmet reformed. Upon landing he could see spots where the grass was flattened. Veritas found herself flung on top of the compost bin again. Edward fired a beam from his forehead above where the flat spots, exploding in mid-air and sending whatever he hit into the fence. Ed saw footprints in the lawn leading back to the house, then he could hear something galloping on the roof. He jumped up onto the roof himself but could no longer figure out where it was going.  
Chapter 8:

“I lost him at the Burrah Brews building, I had a bead on a magnetic anomaly sailing through the air but I lost it.” Edward reported in self-disappointment.

“So you left me on the damned garbage heap?” Veritas shot back, still in the military dress.

“You could look after yourself, Vert. Look, you're in Wrath mode right now, get out of it and you'll think straight again.” he suggested.

Veritas shot her right hand towards his throat, her eye-patch opened like an iris, revealing a ruby gem for an eye underneath. Ed focused on his left arm, his armour forming over it. He threw his fist into the side of her face but she blocked it with her left. Edward raised his legs and shoved them into her chest, separating the two of them. Vert had fallen on her back and struggled to get back to her feet.

“Dammit, I didn't want to have to do this but I've had to throttle your ether supply.” He scolded her, showing her the gem on his left hand which was glowing red. Vert's outfit disappeared, replaced with her usual getup. “If they get away, then you MUST ditch Wrath mode immediately.”

“I'm sorry.” Vert began to apologise when Edward interrupted.

“No, you feed from my energies, soul, ether, et cetera. The ViceGrip feeds off of the dark aspects of your soul, which came from mine, so I guess it's my fault. That doesn't explain why you're so hopped up a romp in the sack when sex is the farthest thing from my mind.”

“Well, I got my own needs too, separate from your's~” She suggested.

“I gotta go now, the police chief will be leaving soon so need to talk to him before I decide my next move.” Edward gibbered before hurrying off, leaving Vert lying on the ground with only her own thoughts and an ant crawling up her foot.

An hour later, a middle-aged man was strolling towards his car, his face drooped in fatigue. He lumbered into his car and softly slapped his own face a couple of times.

“Hey there!” An armoured man announced himself from the back seat, causing the other man to jolt up.

“Bloody hell! Oh, it's you,” he sighed in relief. “I suppose you know why some bum-looking bloke was cutting down my people a week ago, would you?”

“Sadly yes, I figured your jails would be the best place for keeping an asshat who tried to stick me with a sword. Turns out he and a few other guys are more or less the same person.” Edward replied, earnestly.

“Same person? What?” the man found the idea incomprehensible.

“It's complicated, yeah, said complication is why I usually handle the weirdos myself.” Edward admitted.

“Look, I'm sure you feel guilty about bringing trouble to our quiet town but I think we both know you're not cut out to handle these issues yourself. So, suggestion; more transparency.”  
“Yeah, speaking of transparency. Seems this guy, the Kaleidoscope Man's what I'm calling him or them, can turn invisible, and that's the tip of the iceberg, he can make icebergs by the way, at least theoretically. It seems each form has their own personality and talent, sometimes a supernatural one at that. They've been a soldier, a Slavic woman who can freeze stuff with the touch of her hands, a young jewish-looking boy who's apparently so skinny gravity can hardly grip him, a giantess of an amazon... an amazoness I guess, a bald black guy with a silver tongue, invisible... uh, thing, I'll get back to you on that one. Oh, and you know about the bulletproof guy and the guy with the sword.”

“Yes, I'm well aware of those two.” The police chief replied, grimly.

“I've got a favour to ask of you, I need you to move the sword out of the station.” Edward requested, gingerly.

“What, that's all we have on your Kaleidoscope Man!” the chief was flabbergasted.

“Well, this all began when I stumbled upon a giant weapon in an unattended truck's transport. I wanted to track it to the guy who smuggled it here but our mutual 'friend' derailed that plan, and it hasn't been re-railed since.”

“You mean a canon?”

“No, this is meant for something with much larger hands, a mecha.” Edward clarified

“What from Mecca?”

“Oh no, I mean a human-shaped machine that humans drive.” Edward clarified, again.

“Oh, and you think he knows where it is?”

“I'm sure of it, the sword's made of Adamantite, I'm betting he can't afford to lose it. I'll exchange it for the gun.”

“Then you'll destroy it right? The gun I mean.”

“Yeah, of course.” Edward reassured him. “By the way, don't text-and-drive.” Edward patted him twice on the shoulder before leaving the vehicle and failing to close the door behind him. The chief checked his phone and after a few moments staring at the screen, he closed the door himself in a huff and drove out.

Edward returned to his house, greeted his parents and made for his bed, collapsing on it. Vert was reclining on the chair with her legs up on the desk.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Yeah, you should know he's going to get the sword out of evidence lockup and we'll do a trade in the park the day after tomorrow. Man, I can't tell which is lower, the sun or my energy levels.”

“Have some caffeine?” Vert suggested.

“Nah, too late in the day for that. God, I could run the equator but I don't feel like lifting a toe right now.”

  
**Chapter 9: The Shifter and the Crawler.**

“No running after boys, no matter how cute they look.” Edward sardonically asked of Vert. They were sitting in the park, the same are where they'd first encountered the boy in the pink shirt, who Edward had know dubbed 'the Feather'.

“Har-har, so what makes you think he cares what happens to that sword?” Veritas retorted.

“That's too much adamantite to lose frivolously. Also, I think that Korean alter would personally want to KEEP a sword with an edge that'll outlast religion. I do admit it's a stretch, in-fact if he comes here with the sword I'll just tell him to keep it or send it far away from here.”

Vert couldn't grasp the rationale of his gambit, asking, “Then what's the point of today?”

“You'll see,” Edward replied, coyly. “I've been meaning to bring up something else, about just how distinct you are from me.”

“What do you mean?” Vert asked, concerned.

“It's an acknowledgement; I made you, but not to be loyal to me. Yet, it seems that you've been loyal to me in every way that one CAN be loyal. But all that loyalty is meaningless unless it's by your choice.” Edward explained nervously.

“I see... loyalty IS inherent in a Blade, however I don't think of myself as your slave if that's what worries you.” She replied with sincerity.

“That's heartening to hear.”

The two heard the crunching of gravelly footsteps nearby. Vert changed form, her usual outfit was replaced with a catsuit that covered most of her body, exposing her thighs and a triangular area on her chest, Edward deployed his white armour. The two saw a man with a long rectangular box in his arm emerge from behind a thicket of trees, it was the chief of police in a casual outfit.

“I got you a thing in here.” He greeted.

Edward and Vert's attention was suddenly drawn to a man in specialist response police armour rushing over to the chief from behind. Ed recognised the strange firearm he was carrying but it was too late as he had it aimed for the chief's head. Several more police in similar armour hurried out into the open, aiming their weapons at him.

“Alright pals, I already got your boss where I want him. If he doubles back to his car with his free hand on his head he won't get hurt. You got that chief?” He demanded.

“Bloody hell,” the chief muttered, “Loud and clear, you lot keep you distance, got it?” He ordered his men. The chief turned around and walked back down the gravel path, with the captor keeping his gun trained on his head and walking sideways. The two approached a gate fenced by greenery; a metal bar that kept cars from entering but which had enough space for people to walk around, which the gunman did. The two were now on either sides of the gate.

“Alright boss-man, you're gonna slide that box under the gate. I should warn you; if you half-ass it, you'll get two in the gut.” He threatened. The chief complied, sliding the package to his feet.

“Now what, mate? Gonna pinch my car?” The chief remarked, mockingly.

“No, I got my own ride.” He replied, coolly. Behind him a grey van sped towards him. He fired his gun's under-slung grenade launcher. An explosion rang out near the feet of the other policemen, sending them onto their backs as the man hurried into the vehicle, taking the box with him. Edward and Vert each took a gun from the downed officers and darted into the the trees in pursuit of the fleeing car. Said van veered off the road and into another plot of forestry in the park, smashing into a tree. One of the occupants tumbled out of the shotgun seat with a small machine gun in his hand, which he used to fire on the two randomly. They dodged it narrowly, taking refuge behind some nearby greenery.

“You better armour up, Vert,” Edward requested. Black particles began rising out of the ground and surrounding her, they formed into muscular fibres and covered her body from shoe to neck. More of the particles layered themselves all over her body, forming armour. They even concealed her head, forming a second pitch-black skin, her eyelashes were a noticeable gold and her eyes changed completely into azure.

More gunfire rang out from the direction of the thwarted getaway as more of the theif's compatriots made egress.

“Alright, Vert, gonna need you to stand in sight of the vehicle. I'm gonna cast 'stasis' on you and launch you straight at them, so brace yourself.”

“Roger that,” she replied, standing up and out from behind the tree, facing the gunmen. Edward cast a yellow glow on her, giving her back a couple of strong knocks with the bottom of his fist and dispelled it. Instantly afterward, she rocketed off and impacted the vehicle with a thunderous crash. Without skipping a beat, she unstuck herself from the wreck and began pummeling the shooters, throwing one into another, kneeing a third in the stomach, forcing one into the side of the van and then throwing him onto the ground.

Edward hurried to the scene of the carnage, checking to see if he could recognise any of the men there. None of them resembled the blond soldier that accosted him and Vert. Just then, the shoulder of Ed's armour exploded, the two scrambled to take cover as the wreck made tapping sounds.

“Shit, he got away.” Ed mumbled, “That was a Naquadah round he hit me with,”. He cast a green glow on his shattered shoulder, restoring it to normal. “Vert, Imma give you a boost up,” he declared, standing on one knee and putting his hands together, palms facing upward. Vert took a few quick steps away from him, followed by a run-up towards him. She climbed up onto his knee and then his hands, allowing him to launch her high into the air. He then made himself invisible.

Vert crashed through the tree branches, landing with a cacophonous crackle. She flipped up onto her feet and sprinted to where she believed the gunfire came from. She eyed the area but failed to find any tracks. She darted from tree to tree, the balance between concealing herself and looking for the shooter proved difficult until a thought occurred to her. She drew more black dust from the ground and covered her fingertips, the powder forming razor sharp diamond tips. She dug her encrusted fingers into the tree and began climbing it. She climbed into the branches and began leaping from one to another to another, stopping every few jumps to listen out. Meanwhile, an ambulance had arrived on the scene to tend to the downed officers. Vert made her way to a treetop near the scene to survey it. She could see the chief straining to open the gate for the emergency vehicle, which was making a three-point turn so that it could back up to the casualties. The chief took one of the guns and was keeping guard of the scene. Vert heard rustling near her, as she turned to it, some heavily clothed figure knocked her off her roost, her impact with the ground drew the chief's attention. He ran over to her and opened fire on her when she got back up. The chief suddenly collapsed and when the armoured girl checked on him, she could see a wound in his leg, above the knee. She dragged him to the medics who froze on the spot when they saw her. A blue light burst from the treetops, sending the figure hurling towards Terra-firma. Veritas spotted the firearm in it's hands and grabbed it, wrestling it out of the sniper's hands with a kick to the head. The man, heavily clothed in jeans and a face-covering hoodie stood on his hands and feet, soiled, rotten teeth the only part of his face that was visible.

“You've, mmm, got my toy,” he growled.

“You can have it back, two bullets at a time, if you'd like,” Veritas offered sternly, uncovering her face.

“Mmm, keep it. I much prefer to, mmm, get my hands dirty.” He whined.

“You son-of-a-bitch,” the chief snarled, “you killed my men, you're fuckin', KNICKED, son.” He pressed his gun against the hooded one.

“Mmm, I, mmm, killed noone.” The hooded man protested.

“Bullshit,” the chief spat back.

The hooded man complained, “Tight spaces I do not, mmm... enjoy. The night air I, mmm, prefer. The sun, it is, mmm, harsh.”

“Well, where you're going you're gonna get a lot of sun with tight spaces.” The chief promised, darkly.

“Mmm, the master will, mmm, not be caged.”

“Crowley? My driver- I mean, Edward and I will get to him one day, especially if he sends more like you.”

“Mmm, no, I refer to the one of us who guides us,”

“Like who that silver-tongued devil before he turned invisible?” Edward asked, as he himself became visible again. “Y'know how I was here the whole time, just cloaked? Well, I knew you were there when I was talking to the chief, I figured one of your alters turns can't be seen. I texted him some additional details.” The chief flashed a sly grin toward Ed, distrating him from the crawling man long enough to create an opening for him to tackle the cheif and pin him to the ground. He then flung a foot at Veritas, knocking her over too. He then galloped off into the cover of the park forestry.

“Get these officers in, quickly,” Edward ordered, picking two of them up. A half a minute later, the ambulance skidded off, all police in tow.

Edward and Vert headed back into the trees in pursuit. He asked her to hand him the gun, she obliged, substituting the gun for a blade she'd crafted out of more carbon dust.

“I'll keep an eye on the trees, you keep your ey- wait,” Edward's order was interrupted when he saw something move behind a tree. Vert shot her head around to see but failed to spot it. From their left approached an unfamiliar woman; she looked African, her hair was in many braids, she wore a studded vest and a leather miniskirt. “One moment,” he held up and clenched his left hand. He carefully walked towards her, keeping his newly-required gun trained on her.

“Who are you?” Ed tensely asked.

“WHAT are you?” The woman asked.

“Under all this, I'm just a guy who was chasing another guy.” He answered, calmly.

“Then why the hell are ya pointin' that thing at ME!?” she yelled.

“I've seen a lot of crazy things lately, even just today. I want to make sure you're not one of them.” He rationalised.

“Get that murder machine away from me or you'll see how crazy I can be,” she aggressively postured.

“You or your master?” He replied, ignoring her rising tension.

“What the hell are you talkin' about?” Her tone grew more hostile

“I mean, I want to talk to the man in charge. I thought that was Crowley but you're taking orders from someone much closer as well.” He concluded. Vert began to change, shedding her carbon armour and fibre muscles

“Are YOU the crazy one here?”

“Stop bullshitting me, I'm not just looking at you in the flesh, I can see your soul as well and I know very well where I've seen it before.” Edward revealed, showing her the Imperium Module and the orange glowing tear on the bottom of it. Vert's change had finished, she was once again in her military-esque Wrath mode.

“Okay, fine. Say I am, what do you want?”

“To speak to your boss, your leader, whatever you call him.”

“You're assuming a lot, ya' know?”

Edward shoved the barrel of the gun in her face. “Ordinary people scare me, YOU DO NOT. Quit playing this game and show me who's the one in charge!”

“Fine,” she conceded. Then she darted behind a tree. Edward pursued her but she was nowhere to be seen. “Stay back,” they heard her say from behind them. They turned around and saw her emerge from a tree some several meters away.

**Chapter 10: The Creature**

She knelt down, like the bald man, she began to writhe and convulse. However, instead of vanishing, her body began to grow. Spikes extended form her back as her teeth turned pointed and needle-like. Her face extended forward and her eyes bulged, her eyelids pulled in over her eyes, except for a small opening in the middle, they changed to resemble a chameleon. Her clothing disappeared as her skin turned scaly. Her limbs stretched and bulged, with her hands and feet flattening out. Its tail, as long as its body unfurled.

“I am the one who commands,” It spoke softly, but with a dozen voices.

“Well, I am one who negotiates, and I ask you, no, I BESEECH you to CUT TIES with the Squid.” Edward urged,

“Should I acquiesce to your demand, it will change nothing between you and me. I will pry that gem from your left and and I will deliver it to Aleister in lieu of your head. Could you imagine what he could do with that power?” It taunted.

“Oh? Control it? When I couldn't? You'll do your master no favours, I guarantee it,” Ed stated, bluntly.

“Lets kill him and get this over with,” Veritas seethed.

“No!” Ed fired back, “I will NOT make an enemy if I can avoid it.”

“There's no avoiding this conflict, young man. I am here to kill you, and so I shall.” It spoke, calmly yet with an undercurrent of dogmatism.

Edward clenched his hand and a purple gem assumed place under the eye. “Vert, have at it.”

Veritas charged at the scaly monstrocity, but before she could strike him, he disappeared. She cussed loudly, “Goddammit, he teleported.”

“I don't think he can, not while we're looking at him. The girl had to break our line of sight, same with this thing. I have a solution tho.” Edward extended his left arm, light blue drops of energy emanated from it, forming into a sword, the AI Blade. Edward charged the newly-formed blade with purple energy and tossed it to Veritas, who rotated the hilt of it to wield it like a gun. He then took the gun he seized off the Kaleidoscope Man into his hands. A cone of purple light expanded from the blade, revealing the formerly-invisible beast and coating it in energy of a similar colour. Edward opened fire on the Creature but missed due to it scrambling form one treetop to another. Vert shot several streaks of bright and purple electricity from the weapon to the giant lizard, sending him tumbling to the ground. Edward and Vert rushed over to the fallen foe and dealt several blows to its body, but failed to leave as much as a wound or a bruise. It thrust a foot in Vert's direction, knocking her backwards. Edward dropped the gun and clasped his hands together, forcing them down to the back of beast's head. The beast repaid the blow by swatting his head with it's tail, sending him tumbling off it's back. The monster pinned Edward to the ground with it's hand. His armour began to freeze, he grabbed the Creature's arm with his left hand. It let go and instead restrained his left and right arm's apart. They began to freeze. Two metal orbs on the armour's helmet began to vibrate, sending out a searing sound, but this failed to phase it. Edward strained against it, causing his arms to break off. Edward delivered a kick with both of his legs, sending it flying back and colliding with a tree. It still had Edward's hands in its own and began to ravenously gnaw on the Imperium Module.

“Hey, you spit that thing out now.” Edward demanded.

  
“I will swallow it and keep it in my stomach until I reach Master Crowley.” It declared, before continuing to bite at the gem. Edward charged at the scaly beast, who stored the two hands in its mouth, bent toward the tree it collided with and darted up it. He kicked at the tree, fracturing it. The Creature jumped from treetop to treetop, Ed pursued it until a purple blast knocked it down. Edward saw Veritas charged up to their adversary, slashing at its head and knocking the hands out of its maw. Vert then kicked the left hand over to Edward, but when it landed at his feet he saw that the gem in the middle of the back was gone.

“I have the gem now,” it declared victoriously, seeming to beam an open-mouthed smile at Ed, allowing him to see the gem. It shut its mouth and swallowed it. Energies of orange, light and dark blue, red, green, and purple enveloped the Creature. “Mmm, the taste of victory, it's more invigorating than I could've ever imagined!”. It placed its hands on the ground, causing the terrain to freeze, and much more rapidly than it or the blue-clad girl ever could. Vert and Ed found themselves frozen on the spot. A cloud formed in front of the Creature and the large gun that the two had been tracking appeared in front it. “I have your gun, like you wanted, eheheh.” It aimed the gun at Ed and pulled the trigger.

**Chapter 11: The Fish-Man**

The gun did not fire. The Creature examined it closely, pulling on its levers frantically, a light blue glow stated to flow from it's eyes.

“Oh, I see, perhaps if I pull this,” it muttered, yanking a lever. It aimed the gun back at Ed, who could see its arms were shaking and that it was shaking its head. “Urgh, my head!” it moaned. Frost formed on the weapon, covering it instantly. The beast dropped the weapon, fracturing it and held its head. It began stumbling around.

“The gem is leaking energy into you, your body's going to overload!” Edward panicked. “Regurgitate it now!” The beast vanished, but it left a multicoloured glow, betraying it's whereabouts instantly.

“Never! It could not destroy me from the outside so it can't destroy me from the inside either,” it screeched.

“I was using a fraction of its power, the device you tore it out of was designed to throttle it, remember? I didn't lie to the kid and I'm not lying to you”.

“You deceived the kid with illusions, how can I be sure you're not deceiving me!?” it snarled.

“Does it feel like a deception!?” Ed retorted.

The Creature writhed, whimpered and whined as the glow intensified.

“I know how to save you! Focus on yourself and where you most desperately want to be,” Edward advised.

“I want to be free of this pain, free to live like an ordinary person. Damn you Aleister!” It cursed. A cloud formed around the transparent Creature and then dispersed, leaving a glowing gem behind. The orbs on the mouth of Ed's helmet vibrated again, shattering the ice that the monstrosity left behind. Ed approached the gem, retracting his helmet.

“Vert, could you chuck me my left hand please?” he asked, casually. She threw it near his feet, the then picked up the gem with his mouth and quickly placed it in the centre of the module. He redeployed his helmet and headbutted the gem, embedding it back in the device. Tendrils grew from the stump of Ed's left arm, joining with the end of the left hand. Edward clenched his left hand shifting the green-encrusted tear to under the eye and strolled toward Veritas, who was holding his right hand with the Omnitrix. He cast a green glow over it and the stump of his right arm and the two joined again, with the rest of the arm materialising between them. He then cast the same glow over the gun, removing the cracks that being dropped opened and then unfreezing it. The dark-blue gem rotated under the eye on his hand and the gun vanished into a cloud.

“What do you think happened?” Vert asked, nervously, transforming back into her usual self. Edward pointed one finger up and showed her the module on his left hand, as the light-blue tear moved under the eye. A similairly-coloured glowing line connected it to his head. Edward closed his eyes in concentration. After a few moments he opened them again.

“The Truth Gem spoke to me, it said that it granted the Kaleidoscope Man's wishes of being with Crowley and being free of the gem itself. It also told me that he, she?, it, I guess, had some repressed memories surface. I guess that means that Crowley's in some serious shit right now.”

“Oh, wow. But isn't there a chance he could, y'know, explode?” Vert asked with some trepidation.  
“Unlikely, I think that energy will bleed off of it in the way most energy does, heat. If it has any sense it'll go for a dip as soon as it realises the floor underneath it is melting.”

“Ok, final question.” Vert said, as Edward portalled the two of them to his bed, “why didn't the gun fire?”

“You should already know that, Vert.” He responded, encouragingly.

“Hmm, oh! I ate that bullet.” She started to say.

“..and the chamber was left empty.” He added, “not only does that mean that the smugglers failed to check their wares properly, but that you saved me.”

Edward grabbed Veritas' shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss. He retracted his armour, leaving his body bare. She followed suit, vanishing her clothing. He lifted her up and fell backwards onto the bed, then he started to caress her bare ass. Veritas adjusted herself so she was sitting up and straddling him, then she leaned backward and stroked him between his legs. Edward's eyes rolled back into his head. Veritas lifted herself up by her knees to guide Ed inside of her. As he slid into her, his hands clenched tightly and involuntarily, another wave of pleasure rolled throughout him.

“I promise I'll make this slow. Just how you like it.” She grinned. She slowly rocked her hips, gritting her teeth and throwing her head back. She took one of his hands and guided it to her breast. He squeezed it gently, running his thumb over the nipple. She leaned back again, supporting herself on her right arm. Ed moved his arm from her breast to hold her other arm, he held her right hand with his. The two held each other tight as her thrusting intensified and their ecstasy heightened. Edward's hips began twitching, who let out an 'augh' in surprise. Her movements intensified and his body tensed up and his breathing stopped. Vert's movements turned frantic, the hand on her supporting arm dug their fingers deep into the bed sheets. The two let out moans as a tidal wave of bliss consumed them. Vert laid on her back, Edward sliding out of her in the process. The two breathed heavily. Edward peered over at the door, spotting that it was still open, he motioned towards it and it shut itself.

Several days later, the two were strolling along the beach. Edward was in his grey and white body suit, but it wasn't covering his forearms and shins. Veritas was wearing black bandeau and a sarong with eyes and teeth depicted on it, drawing the puzzled attention of a few fellow beach-goers. The two walked down to the end of a lookout. The two were gazing absentmindedly out towards the ocean when someone emerged from the water, climbing onto the rocks and began to puke water out of his lungs. He had long black hair and a dark olive skin tone, but this appearance shifted, replaced with the blond soldier.

“I had a feeling it was you,” Edward greeted him.

“Ah, fancy running into the two of you. You sound like you were expecting me,” the soldier stated with some surprise.

“We were tipped off about some unregistered American immigrants' bodies washing up on shore. A few had those white plastic waldoes attached to their arms. I figured it was someone in with 'The Squid'. I had no leads and left it in the police's hands for the time being and drowning murder's not exactly a thing the boys in blue here do. Good to see you're okay, most people would've, y'know, exploded.” He revealed.

“Where did you go?” Vert chimed in.

“Right were I wanted to be, Crowley's front door, well, specifically little tube he sleeps in. Before either of us could do anything, the floor had started melting and his tube shattered. I teleported again, this time into the ocean, and let the rest of the energy bleed out.”

“I gotta say, you're looking great.” Edward commented brightly.

“I spent days in the most excruciating agony, agony the likes of which you'll NEVER know. I learned what I was, a dozen minds made to synchronise with, and eventually pour into the mind of a monster that Aleister's men were engineering as a side project.”

“I see,” Edward responded much more grimly.

Panicked screams suddenly rang out. The three spotted a grey, metal behemoth emerging from the water, it had two arms and legs attached to a triangular body. There were a half-dozen more limbs, waldoes resembling the limbs of a squid, there were two waldoes pointed that opened up to become claws.

The metal marauder turned to face the trio and a loud amplified voiced rang out, “'ello there, Eddie-boy. You're always so willing to fight the fight yourself, so I didn't expect you to send a goon to get me. I guess turnabout's fair play, eh? I'll squish the bird too, while I'm at it.”

Vert ran back down the path, she kept her eyes on the machine the whole time. Edward called out “Alight” and his armour materialised in a flash of light.

“You aren't laying a finger on her, Oswald, and you're definitely not laying a tentacle on her either.” Edward declared, defiantly. I know exactly what sort of rounds your gun carries, I'll blow your arms apart and put a great big dent in your armour.” Ed threatened.

Oswald aimed it at Edward, who began to vibrate the two orbs on his helmet's mouthpiece. The gun hummed briefly before being torn apart by an explosion. The blast toppled the tentacled technology, tearing its human-like arms off. The soldier transformed into the Creature again and dove into the sea.

“I'll have you know that minion you accused of being mine, really wasn't. He was working for a potential ally of your's. You can continue to believe he was always my ally if that makes you feel better.” Ed taunted.

Oswald's mecha picked itself back up, its tentacle swatted at Ed, barely missing as he dove out of it. He picked himself back up and ran to stand between it and the town nearby. Another appendage came flying toward him but was entangled by several smaller tendrils, almost entirely black in colour. “What?” Oswald growled , turning to see the restraints coming from a patch of darkness. The patch had large eyes and mouths drifting within it, darkness that Veritas was standing in the middle of. Her sarong had now enveloped the entirety of her bottom half and was indistinguishable from the patch. Oswald attempted to swat at her with a claw but was blocked by emerging black spikes. The Creature leapt out of the water onto the tentacled mecha's back freezing it and immobilising a few of it's tendrils before jumping off.

“I'd quit right now if I were you, Squiddy. Drop your gun and get out of the mecha.” Edward demanded.

“Or what?”

Edward suddenly became enveloped in a purple glow, light pouring out of his back. From the light emerged what looked to be his armour, but much bulkier. It surrounded his body, enveloping his head and torso into its own chest and his legs being consumed by the armour's larger legs. Standing before Oswald was a foe as large as his own armour.

“This.” Edward responded, tersely.

Oswald tried to swipe at him with his clawed limbs, but Edward caught both, crushing them in his hands. Ed then charged at him, hoisting the machine up and tossing it into the wall of earth and rocks that the the were standing on previously. The armour's torso opened up, revealing the occupant; a middle-aged man, rotund, wearing a formal suit and goggles, his already large nose was broken, red and swollen. Edward reached for him, carefully extracting him before tossing him onto the sand. Os pushed himself out of the sand, spitting sand out of his mouth.

“Alroight, you got me,” The Squid conceded. The Creature and Vert both ran to his sides to surround him. “'ey luv, nice outfit,” he complemented Vert, to her bemusement.

“Looks like your Kraken's started crackin',” Edward bantered.

“Har-har, real funny. I wonder how amusing you'll find the self-destruct feature?”

Edward immediately turned back towards the machine, lifting it up again and then used thrusters on his armour's back and feet to launch itself skyward. Two metal and four plastic tentrils burst from Oswald's back, one wrapped itself around Vert's neckwhile the other forced itself down the Creature's gullet. It tried to grip the tentacle but it's hands were restrained by two of the plastic limbs. A shadowy line slithered from Vert's sarong toward Oswald's feet. Suddenly it shot into the air and into his chest, a mouth emerged from it and into the wound and then the shadowy limb receeded. Oswald fell on his face again, letting go of Vert. The Creature gingerly extracted the metal appendage from it's throat and then gasping for air. An explosion rang out far above them.

**Chapter 12: The Lucky**

The Creature transformed, this time into a ginger-haired man wearing a green coat.

“Think your man's ok?” He asked.

“I'm sure of it,” Veritas replied, confidently.

“Pretty feckin' brutal what ya did to the old man.”

“I'll admit I'm not as merciful as my Driver is. But it wasn't about pure bloodlust, I can feed off the vices lying in hearts. It fuels some of the special abilities I use,” she explained.

“Well, I ain't exactly gonna shed a tear for 'im. Bloke was a bit o' a bastard.” He commented.

A cloudy portal opened up and Edward stepped through it.

“Hey, sorry I took so long, the explosion knocked me out briefly. Problem with the gravity shielding,” he looked at Oswald's motionless body, “oh, jeez, someone better put a cloth on him. Just in case the police take a while getting here,” he looked unhappy, scratching his head and turning away from the body. “Huh, new guy, or are you just Kale?” Edward asked.

“Kale? I can be a fish-man but I'm not kale,” The redhead replied, quizically.

“Kaleidescope Man doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, so how about that as a name?” He opened up another portal, this time over the body and a large tarp floated down onto Oswald. The portal vanished and Ed opened up a third behind him, “Who's first?”

“No thanks, as for the name? I'll consider it,” He said and headed towards the sea. He transformed back into the long-haired 'Fish-man' and dove in. Veritas walked through the portal and Edward turned to follow her but stopped when he saw several police officers heading towards him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted that the chief was one of them.

“What the hell happened here?” The chief demanded, breathlessly.

“A lot of bullshit, but it's all alright now. That shapeshifter man's not going to be a problem for you any more. As for the mecha and weapons smuggler, well, the ringleader's under that sheet there. I'd get a body-bag before the wind blows it off.”

“I'm supposed to take your word on that, am I? Look, we need to organise a taskforce and get some serious money together for the infrastructure and I have no idea where to start with making what sounds like Burrah's Area 51.” The chief agonised.

“Oh, I know a few yanks and poms with experience with cases like this, as for funding, I think I can scrape together some capital.” Edward confided.

“Hey, I won't let you refer to our English cousins like that. As for your offer, I guess I have little choice but to accept it so long as I can throw a few of my most trusted men in the loop too.” The chief grumbled.

“Goodo,” Edward replied, walking through the portal. He was back in his bedroom with Vert.

“You think we'll see him again?” Veritas asked.

“If he lets himself be visible, then sure,” Edward joked. Veritas jumped backwards onto the bed.

“Well, since our lovely walk on the beach was cut short. Ya wanna bang?” she bluntly proposed. Edward nervously glanced around the room.

“We could walk along another beach instead.” He suggested.

**Epilogue**

Edward had been asked to come aboard a ship that'd 'moored' itself in the space above Earth. The ship itself was a proper leviathan, a living organism that resembled a whale in shape but orders of magnitude larger, measuring dozens of kilometers in length front-to-back with a height and width of a dozen kilometers, each. He had been told that a guest was going to come aboard shortly and as such was waiting with some company in the docking bay.

“I'm told he's coming in from the Marvel sector. Wanted to run some tests regarding artificial intelligence with us.” One of the strangers standing with Edward disclosed.

“Ah, thought it might've been hazardous materials, this ship's got plenty of space to play around with those. I'm kind of in well, bad standing with a few of the Avengers, pinched a bit of their Infinity GemStones' powers, didn't go all that well.” Edward explained, somewhat despondent, but his tone cheered up when he suggested, “It could be some Wakandan's bringing some of their Vibranium with them.”

A voice came in from the intercom, “VIP visitor has just dropped in from hyperspace. Docking Imminent.”

The docking door opened like a pore and a ship resembling a four-winged bird gently drifted through, extending legs and opening a door on its rear. A man in a formal suit stood out, he had a carefully shaped goatee and a walk that suggested he owned where he trod. Edward recognised him immediately.

“Tony Stark? I'm almost relieved to see you.” He pretended to joke, “you're not gonna give me back the Mind GemStone, are you?” he genuinely joked.

“Hah, no,” he replied bluntly before putting forward an offer, “but if you'd let me run a few tests on it with this ship's biggest computer, I'd appreciate it.”

“Hahah, wait, you bought the Stone here!?” Edward freaked out, “If the other Stonekeepers here of this they'll flip their lids at both you and me.”

"Don't worry, we'll just give it a probe, grow a new brain for me and I'll be out before you know it. Trust me," Stark said.

A chill ran down Edward's spine.

***TO BE CONTINUED IN: Edward Orson: Storm of the Living Gemstones’***


End file.
